-lainen
See also: lainen and -läinen
Finnish
Etymology 1
From Proto-Finnic *-lainen; synchronically analyzable as a toponymic element -la + -inen. Cognate with Estonian -lane, Veps -laine.
Attested since at least the Bible translation of 1548, which uses it in Mark 7.26 (Grekilainen) and Luke 4.27 (Syrialainen), among other places.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /-lɑi̯nen/, [-lɑi̯ne̞n]
- Does not automatically cause secondary stress
Suffix
-lainen (front vowel harmony variant -läinen)
- Combined with a place name, forms the noun for the inhabitant of a place; or an adjective meaning "of or relating to (the place)".
- Viro (“Estonia”) + -lainen → virolainen (“Estonian”)
- Savo (“Savonia”) + -lainen → savolainen (“Savonian”)
- Combined with a name, forms an adjective for a member of an organization or other defined group, a follower of philosophy etc.
- German Hegel + -lainen → hegeliläinen (“Hegelian”)
- kokoomus + -lainen → kokoomuslainen
- Combined with a common noun, forms nouns for people characterized by this noun.
- eläke (“pension”) + -lainen → eläkeläinen (“pensioner”)
- vuokra (“rent”) + -lainen → vuokralainen (“tenant, lessee”)
- Forms various diminutives; also used in surnames.
- repo (“(dated) fox”) + -lainen → repolainen (“(nickname, poetic) fox”)
Usage notes
- Usually appended to the genitive or nominative singular stem.
- Place names already ending in -la often do not duplicate the suffix, and their adjective forms may be formed with simply -inen (e.g. Karjala → karjalainen, not ˣkarjalalainen).
Declension
Noun:
| Inflection of -lainen (Kotus type 38/nainen, no gradation) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | -lainen | -laiset | |
| genitive | -laisen | -laisten -laisien | |
| partitive | -laista | -laisia | |
| illative | -laiseen | -laisiin | |
| singular | plural | ||
| nominative | -lainen | -laiset | |
| accusative | nom. | -lainen | -laiset |
| gen. | -laisen | ||
| genitive | -laisen | -laisten -laisien | |
| partitive | -laista | -laisia | |
| inessive | -laisessa | -laisissa | |
| elative | -laisesta | -laisista | |
| illative | -laiseen | -laisiin | |
| adessive | -laisella | -laisilla | |
| ablative | -laiselta | -laisilta | |
| allative | -laiselle | -laisille | |
| essive | -laisena | -laisina | |
| translative | -laiseksi | -laisiksi | |
| instructive | — | -laisin | |
| abessive | -laisetta | -laisitta | |
| comitative | — | -laisineen | |
| Possessive forms of -lainen (type nainen) | ||
|---|---|---|
| possessor | singular | plural |
| 1st person | -laiseni | -laisemme |
| 2nd person | -laisesi | -laisenne |
| 3rd person | -laisensa | |
Adjective:
| Inflection of -lainen (Kotus type 38/nainen, no gradation) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | -lainen | -laiset | |
| genitive | -laisen | -laisten -laisien | |
| partitive | -laista | -laisia | |
| illative | -laiseen | -laisiin | |
| singular | plural | ||
| nominative | -lainen | -laiset | |
| accusative | nom. | -lainen | -laiset |
| gen. | -laisen | ||
| genitive | -laisen | -laisten -laisien | |
| partitive | -laista | -laisia | |
| inessive | -laisessa | -laisissa | |
| elative | -laisesta | -laisista | |
| illative | -laiseen | -laisiin | |
| adessive | -laisella | -laisilla | |
| ablative | -laiselta | -laisilta | |
| allative | -laiselle | -laisille | |
| essive | -laisena | -laisina | |
| translative | -laiseksi | -laisiksi | |
| instructive | — | -laisin | |
| abessive | -laisetta | -laisitta | |
| comitative | — | -laisine | |
| Possessive forms of -lainen (type nainen) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Rare. Only used with substantive adjectives. | ||
| possessor | singular | plural |
| 1st person | -laiseni | -laisemme |
| 2nd person | -laisesi | -laisenne |
| 3rd person | -laisensa | |
Derived terms
Finnish terms suffixed with -lainen (demonym)
Finnish terms suffixed with -lainen (association)
Finnish terms suffixed with -lainen (person)
Finnish terms suffixed with -lainen (diminutive)
Etymology 2
From compounds with laji (“kind, sort”) + -inen. The origin as a separate word can still be seen in the imperfect accommodation to vowel harmony. The suffix has been reinforced and influenced by the somewhat similar sounding -llinen (e.g. dialectal millinen for millainen).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /-ˌlɑi̯nen/, [-ˌlɑi̯ne̞n]
- Rhymes: -ɑinen
- Syllabification(key): lai‧nen
- automatically causes secondary stress, due to the fact that this suffix was originally a component in a compound
Suffix
-lainen
- Combined with a pronoun, forms an adjective relating to the kind or nature of a person or an object.
- Synonyms: -moinen, kaltainen
- eri + -lainen → erilainen (“different”)
- eräs + -lainen → eräänlainen (“kind of (a)”)
- mikä + -lainen → minkälainen / millainen (“what kind of?”)
- sama + -lainen → samanlainen (“similar, of the same kind”)
- se + -lainen → sellainen (“such, of that kind”)
- tämä + -lainen → tällainen / tälläinen (colloquial) (“of this kind”)
- Combined with the genitive form of an adjective, forms an adjective indicating a smaller degree of the quality than that described by the original adjective.
- Synonym: -hko
- heikko + -lainen → heikonlainen (“relatively weak”)
- oikea + -lainen → oikeanlainen (“of a right kind (but not the right one)”)
- viileä + -lainen → viileänlainen (“sort of cool”)
Usage notes
As this suffix is historically a compound, it is not subject to vowel harmony in the standard language; with the exception of the word yhtäläinen, it always has back vowel harmony. In colloquial use it may have a front vowel variant, if not the speaker has not been explicitly taught to avoid that, which proves the rule moot.
Declension
| Inflection of -lainen (Kotus type 38/nainen, no gradation) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | -lainen | -laiset | |
| genitive | -laisen | -laisten -laisien | |
| partitive | -laista | -laisia | |
| illative | -laiseen | -laisiin | |
| singular | plural | ||
| nominative | -lainen | -laiset | |
| accusative | nom. | -lainen | -laiset |
| gen. | -laisen | ||
| genitive | -laisen | -laisten -laisien | |
| partitive | -laista | -laisia | |
| inessive | -laisessa | -laisissa | |
| elative | -laisesta | -laisista | |
| illative | -laiseen | -laisiin | |
| adessive | -laisella | -laisilla | |
| ablative | -laiselta | -laisilta | |
| allative | -laiselle | -laisille | |
| essive | -laisena | -laisina | |
| translative | -laiseksi | -laisiksi | |
| instructive | — | -laisin | |
| abessive | -laisetta | -laisitta | |
| comitative | — | -laisine | |
| Possessive forms of -lainen (type nainen) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Rare. Only used with substantive adjectives. | ||
| possessor | singular | plural |
| 1st person | -laiseni | -laisemme |
| 2nd person | -laisesi | -laisenne |
| 3rd person | -laisensa | |
Derived terms
Finnish terms suffixed with -lainen (similarity)
Anagrams
- Anneli, Linnea, alinen